Helping Hand
by dammitspawk
Summary: After finally being able to go home after the events of "Straw Man" John invites Dorian over to have a drink. Or make him some noodles. Or just sit on on his couch.


John was exhausted. After taking down the actual Straw Man, serial killer and his father's murderer he was feeling pretty good. Noodles and home were happily on his horizons. After the touching conversation with Dorian, John was just about to dig into his much deserved noodles. But of course even the best of days have there flaws and before he knew it he and Dorian were back in the car.

The job wasn't a hard one. Just some kids who thought they could break into an electronics store to steal the newest gaming console and a holo-tv system to play it on. They were detained and taken care of quickly, just a snag in John's night really. But of course it was now a lot later and he was beginning to feel the injuries he's gained earlier that day take their toll.

He really could go for those noodles now. Too bad the place closed at ten.

With a heavy breath he slipped into the driver's seat and started his car, Dorian in the passenger's seat beside him. Although he was tired, John still thought the occasion called for a little celebration.

"Hey Dorian," he started as he pulled out of the precinct, "you wanna come over to my place for a while? I can drive you back to Rudy's later," the detective offered keeping his eyes fixed straight out the windshield. John could practically hear Dorian smile when he replied.

"Thank you John, it will be my pleasure," the DRN responded.

"Jeez Dorian I'm just asking if you wanna come over for a drink, not asking you out on a date. A simple 'sure' would have been good," John said with a glance to his right. Dorian's smile didn't soften and John tried to quell the swirl in his stomach.

"Sure."

* * *

Dorian was surprised at the size of John's house. And the openness. Dorian had always imagined John in a small but livable apartment deep in the bowls of the city with a small kitchen and only one bathroom. And he had always imagined it to be a little less tidy, although with the impeccable state of his partner's car he didn't know where that idea came from. John went off in the direction of his room muttering to Dorian to make himself at home. When he came back he was pretty much the same just minus his jacket, gun holster and shoes. Dorian, who up until this point had stayed standing in John's front hall taking in his surroundings, followed John into the kitchen.

"I'd offer you a drink," John started grabbing a bottle and glass from a cupboard. His sentence trailed off, not really needing to be finished.

"I really wish I'd got to finish those noodles," he said mostly to himself as he poured his drink.

"If you like I could make some for you," Dorian spoke for the first time since entering the house. John looked up from his glass.

"No Dorian it's alright I'm sure I've got something in the fridge. Besides this is my house, I should be making you dinner," he retorted with a chuckle.

"John I can see you're exhausted. You could use a decent meal and I'm sure you don't have one hiding in your fridge."

"Like you can even cook," the detective smiled. "You don't even eat."

"I have approximately 3,000,000 cookbooks downloaded into my programming in over 50 different languages. I'm sure I can make you some noodles." The DRN replied with a raise of his eyebrow. Kennex just looked back at him, not sure if his partner was just bluffing or if he really had been programmed with all that stuff. If so why the hell was he a cop? John already knew the answer to that.

"Yeah okay go for it. If you can find what you need, be my guest." Another chuckle.

With a smile and a bit of a sigh Dorian decided to get to work.

* * *

John's fridge was nearly empty, there was no way he would have found anything to eat out of it by the smell of the leftovers in the takeout container on the top shelf. There were however some salvageable veggies in the bottom drawer and the eggs weren't out of date yet. As for the noodle part the only thing Dorian could find in Kennex's cupboards other than coffee and liquor was some instant ramen packets that looked like they'd been there a while. Still, noodles were noodles, right?

It wasn't long before Dorian had something smelling delicious cooking on the stove top in one of John's rarely used pots. Much to Dorian's surprise he found a drawer nearly full of spices underneath the cutlery drawer. There was even soy sauce.

"Yeah my mom came over to cook Thanksgiving dinner once a while back when Anna..." the detective didn't finish his sentence. "She bought all those and left them here. Though I don't know why you need all that to cook a turkey and some potatoes."

Dorian picked a few and the soy sauce to put in the noodles then shut the drawer. Unbeknownst to him, John was watching every move from behind. Dorian cooking was almost... natural. Human in some weird way. He could almost imagine making a habit of this. Coming home from a hard day, Dorian cooking dinner, watching the game together. Snuggling in bed until they fell asleep.

John nearly shook his head violently enough for it to have gone flying off his shoulders and rolling into the living room. Thankfully Dorian was too focused on balancing spices to take any notice of him. His thoughts were getting out of hand here. There's no way he could have anything like that with Dorian or even that he wanted that with Dorian. Besides. Dorian wouldn't be able to cuddle anyway, he doesn't even sleep in a bed, he needs a charging station. John took another swig out of his tumbler.

In that moment Dorian had finished cooking John's noodles and had turned around to ask, "Hey John where do you keep your bowls?"

Kennex welcomed the distraction. "Top cupboard to the left of the fridge."

Before he knows it there's a bowl of steaming ramen and soup sitting in front of him. It smells good, it does. But John knows better than to trust sense of smell.

"Try it," he hears his dark-skinned partner tell him as he hands him a fork.

"There's no way this is going to be any good. All you did was take some old ramen and throw in some old spices and soy sauce," John remarks, skeptical.

"Try it," Dorian says again.

With one last doubtful glance at Dorian, Kennex braces himself and takes a tentative bite. Smells might be deceiving but taste buds don't lie.

"Oh my god," he says through is full mouth, coming out more like "Ogh mur gofh."

Dorian smiles and says, "See."

"These are actually amazing," John says after another bite. "Thank you," he adds as almost an afterthought.

"My pleasure John," the delighted bot replies with a bit of a nod.

John feels heat rise in his cheeks. Instantly he raises his hand to his face and slowly wipes the back against his mouth. To clear off the soup residue of course.

* * *

It doesn't take John long to finish his gourmet noodles and soon he and Dorian find themselves on his living room couch talking about nothing in particular. Across the room on the armchair blue wrapping paper catches John's eye. The leg. He'd forgotten he'd put it there after they'd come in. In a second he's on his feet and in front of the chair.

"John?" He hears Dorian's voice from behind him. John turns back to the couch, taking the leg with him and sits himself back beside Dorian, a little closer than before.

They're silent for a moment before John begins to unwrap the blue paper around the leg.

It's similar to his old leg, smooth surface, looked like a leg but the connecting part was different and the surface was a completely seamless silver, unlike the one he had now that when unused was white with segment dividers.

"Wow this is really great Dorian," the detective said as he turned the leg over in his hands. Suddenly a full and bright smile erupted on his face. Dorian was smiling with him before he could think not to.

"I'm glad you like it," the DRN replied. It seemed almost as deja vu from earlier in the evening but was different. Less unbelieving and more pure gratitude.

"Let's try it out."

All of a sudden John was on his feet and giving the leg to Dorian. Then to Dorian's surprise undid his belt buckle and was shoving his pants off before Dorian could blink. He bit his lip and tried to look as if he weren't staring. It wasn't like he was completely naked, he was still wearing his boxers after all.

John sat back on the couch beside Dorian and immediately began removing his synthetic leg and placing it on the ground beside the couch. Dorian finally released his lip from his teeth. Perfect synthetic teeth that were far too different from Johns. He handed John the new prosthesis and the detective took it with a hint of a grateful smile.

Kennex leaned back against the couch and began to attach his new leg. Well he tried. It wasn't clicking into place like it should have been and he started to get frustrated.

"I don't know why it's not staying-"

"Here."

Before Kennex could question Dorian he felt his hand on his thigh, synthetic warmth leaving an impression on his skin. Dorian's other hand was wrapped around the back of the leg. He shifted his fingers close to the connection point and gave the leg a gentle push upwards as he said, "This model has another lock mechanism on the back to keep it stable, I should have told you. Sorry."

John's mouth had gone dry, his heart sped up and he couldn't think of anything to say to save his life. The leg chirped and lit up momentarily before matching the appearance of his own leg. Dorian looked up at him, hands still resting on his leg.

"Thought you might need a helping hand."

He could now feel the other hand now through the nerve circuitry in the synthetic.

"John you alright? You're heartbeat's sped up. It's not a reaction to the leg is it? I made sure that they were tested prop-"

Dorian was cut off by the presence of John's lips smoothly gliding over his. If Dorian had a heart he was sure that it would have stopped. It only took a moment for him to shift his hand from John's leg to his face and to lean into the kiss.

John had no idea how he'd got there but he felt Dorian lean into him and deepen the kiss. Without thinking John let his tongue pass over his partner's lips. Dorian let him in without a thought. John was surprised by the wetness in Dorian's mouth but didn't spare it any thought as he tried to memorize the taste of his DRN partner. Cool, smooth, faintly metallic and oddly sweet. All too soon Dorian ended the kiss.

"John." Dorian was sure that if he needed to breathe he'd be panting. John seemed pretty close to it.

"Dorian." John said nearly mocking. There was a smile on his lips. "Have you ever-?"

"No. That was a first." Dorian replied immediately. "I can't say I didn't like it though." Dorian had a smile that mirrored Johns as the human came in for another kiss, this one with even more passion than before. John guided Dorian forward as he clutched his jacket and laid down on the couch.

"Hey John," Dorian said in between kisses.

"Yeah," John replied with some impatience.

"I don't think you'll need to drive me back to Rudy's tonight," Dorian told him, tangling his fingers in the detective's hair.

"Agreed," John said before pulling Dorian back down onto the couch.


End file.
